by Kory Shen
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, now go do your thing."
Of the three of us, she was the only one that sounded excited. That worried me.
"Stay sharp, Genna," I said.
Then, the wyverns arrived.
* * *
Each wyvern carried one rider and a large crate strapped to its back with thick ropes. I recognized Lexley in his armor but not the other two Sentinels who dismounted.
If the wyverns were able to carry a crate and fully armored knight, that meant carrying me and Kuri wouldn't be a problem. Maybe we could still pull this off.
"Ready?" I asked the others.
Genna and Kuri both nodded silently.
"Genna, stay up here. Kuri, stay ten or twenty paces behind me."
Kuri and I slipped away from Genna, creeping along the path to the sinkhole. There were enough rocky formations to mask our progress in the dim moonlight.
"Mira, I'll need to stay hidden for as long as possible," I whispered.
"Understood. Active camouflage is engaged."
I couldn't see what was happening, but I trusted Mira to do her part to keep me hidden. The rest was up to me.
We made our way slowly down the path, moving from rock to rock, inching along the edge of the path, crawling when there was no other cover. It took me a good five minutes to reach the bottom of the sinkhole, and Kuri followed a short distance behind.
The men at the bottom were talking with animated gestures. I crawled closer, finding cover behind a large boulder.
"Mira," I whispered. "Help me listen."
The sound of men talking grew louder in my ears.
"…favorite troupe will perform for him tomorrow evening. He'll be relaxed and unwary," Lexley said.
"And what of the guards?" one of the mercenaries asked.
"A dozen Sentinels," Lexley said. "I've made sure they'll be old and lazy. Nothing you shouldn't be able to handle."
"Isn't there always a Champion by his side? That's the protocol, correct?"
"How did you know that?"
"We make it our business to know. Which Champion?"
Lexley made a noise of surprise. "Sir Hurik," he muttered. "I tried to swap him out with another loyal to me, but the cranky badger wouldn't have it."
"The Hurricane?" the mercenary asked. "The Hurricane himself will be guarding the king, and you didn't think to mention that?"
I frowned. From what I could tell, Lexley was plotting to kill the king. Even if I failed my half of the job, someone had to warn him. Genna would be hearing everything I was. She had to do it.
"…doubled?" Lexley was shouting. He reached for his sword.
The mercenaries didn't move. "We'll need twice the men to deal with the Hurricane. That means twice the armor."
"I don't have that much armor," Lexley hissed. "The Valorian traders only had twenty full pieces."
The mercenary shrugged. "I heard there was more."
Lexley stared at the other man. Had he been trying to skimp on the bargain? My respect for the mercenary grew. He was crafty, well-informed, and utterly dangerous.
"Fine," Lexley said. "After you lead us to your campsite, we'll return with another twenty suits of armor. But you had better deliver on your end of the deal. Or I'll lead all ten Champions myself to hunt you down." He slammed his sword back into its sheath.
"Agreed." The mercenaries eyed the resting wyverns, which were on the side of the sinkhole closer to us.
It was time to move.
Genna, get ready. On three. One, two—
An eerie wail echoed from the dark entrance of the Ruins. That hadn't been Genna or Kuri. Everyone froze.
What the fuck?
"I am sensing…" Mira said. "Impossible."
"What is it, Mira," I whispered urgently.
"It is not possible. My kin," Mira said.
Mira's kin? More spirits? I had no idea what she was talking about, but we couldn't linger. We had to move.
The men started shouting and reaching for their weapons.
"Is this a trick of yours?" the mercenary shouted.
"No," Lexley said. "It's the wind, nothing more."
"It's the horrors of the Ruins!" one of the Sentinels blurted out. He looked around nervously.
Lexley punched the Sentinel. "Don't mind him. It's a local superstition."
There was another wail, louder than the first. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
Go, go, go! I screamed my thoughts at Genna as I raced towards the closest wyvern.
I covered the fifteen or so yards in mere seconds, keeping an eye on the men out of the corner of my eye.
Lexley, the Sentinels, and the mercenaries moved slowly and awkwardly, as if caught in a thick molasses. Genna was doing her work, bringing their thoughts to a crawl.
I reached the wyvern and tried to swing myself onto its back, but the wyvern had other plans. It reared up and hissed, then struck at me with open jaws.
I raised my right arm, catching the bite on it. The wyvern bit harder and harder, trying to pierce my armor, but the suit held up to the beast's attack.
A series of whistles pierced the air. Then, Kuri climbed up the beast, straddling it just behind the neck and stroking its head. The wyvern let go of my arm, and I climbed onto its back, wedged between Kuri in front and a crate behind me.
It had all taken less than ten seconds, but Genna's strength had given out. The men were crying out in rage or fear, turning towards us at normal speeds.
A ten-foot tall wall of flame appeared in the sinkhole, separating us from the men. I sent a trio of fire, lightning, and ice bolts past the fire wall.
A sudden upward acceleration pressed me down into the wyvern. I grabbed onto a set of chains around the wyvern's back as we rose into the air.
We were flying.
I wanted to let out a loud whoop of fear and exhilaration, but we had one grim task left to do. I leaned over and aimed at the ground.
Triple shot. Triple shot.
"Go, go!" I shouted over the air whipping past us.
Two dead wyverns with punctured bodies lay bleeding on the ground. Kuri sent another fireball into the screaming men below as we rose higher. I sent a final triple shot.
We had just cleared the sinkhole when our wyvern screamed and stumbled in the air. My body bucked off the creature, but I managed to hold on to the chains around its body. I climbed back into my seat, sweat dribbling down my temples.
"What was that!" I yelled.
Kuri was hugging the creature's neck. She glanced back at me. "She's hurt!" she yelled.
We were approaching the edge of the forest. The wyvern flew erratically, bobbing up and down, too low to clear the treeline.
I twisted my head, but between the bumpy ride, flapping wings, and sheer terror from falling off the damn beast, I couldn't find what was wrong with the wyvern.
"Mira! Did you see anything?" I asked.
"I detected a projectile striking the creature's underside," Mira said. "Likely an arrow."
There wasn't much we could do about that. I gripped the chains harder as the forest approached, grimacing at the upcoming collision. Things were about to get messy.
Suddenly, a column of flame shot out in front of us.
"Kuri!" I yelled. What the fuck was she doing? We were going to crash into burning trees now.
The forest in front of us erupted with a deafening explosion, louder than the beating of the wings and rushing air. I stared at Kuri's handiwork.
The trees didn't burn. They simply vanished, reduced to motes of ash in an instant as Kuri's column of fire struck. The blackened ground where the trees had stood smoldered with glowing orange patches. Patches of adjacent forest burst into flames.
Kuri had carved out a section of the forest. Our flailing wyvern reached the forest, flying through the now open space with trees on either side of us. We were safe for a moment, as long as we didn't land on the molten earth.
Either the wyvern recovered, or t
he inferno gave it extra motivation. As we neared the end of the section that Kuri had cleared, we rose higher, finally soaring above the treeline. Our flying steadied, but I kept a tight grip on the chains.
"She's okay now. Nothing serious." Kuri patted the wyvern on the side of its head.
I looked back at the burning hole in the forest and let out the breath that I had been holding. Kuri gave me a wide grin over her shoulder. Well, at least one of us was having fun.
I wondered how Genna was faring. If the old Genna had been alone, I would have been more worried, but she was different now. Smart as usual, but stronger. I trusted her to make it back safely.
I tried to sit back and relax, opening my helmet to feel the cold night air rushing against my face. The wyvern was mostly gliding now, a good hundred feet or so above the treeline.
"Warning—" Mira began.
"Fuck!" I screamed. I was getting tired of Mira's untimely warnings.
"—incoming targets," Mira finished.
"Where?" I searched the dark forest beneath us, but I couldn't make out anything.
"Not below. Above," Mira said.
Dark shadows hovered overhead. There were three of them. Each shadow had outstretched wings, two sets of clawed feet, and a serpentine tail. More wyverns.
"Kuri!" I yelled, pointing above us.
She glanced up. "I thought you killed the wyverns."
"So did I. There must have been more, probably from the mercenaries."
Had we missed them? Or had the mercenaries arrived earlier with their own wyverns and hidden them? It didn't matter.
One of the dark shadows descended suddenly.
"Kuri!" I yelled.
I sent a fire bolt into the sky above us, but it ricocheted off the side of the wyvern. Something glinted in the moonlight.
We lurched to the left as the wyvern dove past us. The wyvern's rider held a shield in one hand while gripping chains in the other.
"Jakson!" the knight screamed as he dove past us.
It was Lexley.
Lexley's wyvern pulled up above the trees, then circled around to our rear. The other two wyverns flanked us on either side, still above us.
It was obvious that our wyvern, with its injury and heavy load, wouldn't be able to match their speed or maneuverability. I twisted one way, then the other, trying to keep an eye on all three of them.
The three wyverns dove headfirst, using their claws to rake at our wyvern. Our wyvern beat its wings angrily and twisted to the side, lashing back at the attackers with its tail. I clung to the chains with both hands and squeezed my legs tightly around our wyvern's back, praying to Yora that I wouldn't fall. In front of me, Kuri also hugged the wyvern with both arms.
One of the wyverns clipped us with its wing, and we tumbled twenty feet in the air before recovering. The attacking wyverns circled around and above us again, preparing for another round of assaults.
I sent another fire bolt into the middle one, but our wyvern was flying frantically now, no longer gliding smoothly. I couldn't aim properly on the bumpy ride, and my fire bolt flew wide, missing its mark.
A wyvern dove. We tumbled to the right to dodge it. Then, another dove. Then, another.
Under the constant barrage of attacks, we twisted and tumbled constantly. Kuri and I were holding onto our wyvern desperately, unable to get off a counterattack. I assumed that Kuri needed a free hand to work her magic, like me.
The diving attacks continued at a steady pace, unrelenting. Then, Yora heard my prayers, or we got lucky. There was a mistiming in the attacks. A wyvern dove almost immediately after the one before it. The third followed at the proper interval, but the attack sequence was disrupted.
Mira buzzed in my ear. "The pattern is broken. You have an open attack window."
The lull in attacks only lasted a few seconds, but the first wyvern returned to its position too late to make up for the mistake.
"Kuri, now!" I screamed.
This time, when the wyvern dove, Kuri released both hands and launch a fireball straight into the oncoming creature's face. I raised my left arm and sent a triple shot into the center of the diving mass.
Flames and gore exploded in the air, pieces of the dead wyvern and rider hurtling to the forest below.
We didn't have time to celebrate. The remaining two wyverns attacked. This time, one of them managed to rake its claws across our wyvern's right wing, leaving behind bleeding tears in the leathery membrane. Our wyvern flew with a hitch now, bobbing erratically and leaning to one side. Every several seconds, it would beat its wings extra furiously to right itself and regain lost altitude.
I tried raising my left arm for a split second but was almost thrown off the wyvern's back. I seized the chain again with my left hand.
Kuri and I couldn't get another attack off.
I huddled against the back of the wyvern, my arms outstretched it. My legs gripped the wyvern as well, my feet hooked around chains in the rear.
Kuri turned her head to glance at me. "Hold me!" she yelled.
I raised my head to look at her, unsure what she meant. She slipped backward until her feet met my shoulders. Then, she wedged her feet and legs between my body and the wyvern, crawling backward smoothly. Soon, she was sandwiched between the wyvern and me, with me acting like a harness. She twisted around until we were face to face.
Kuri looked past my head on its left, then raised both hands around my shoulders.
The night sky lit up briefly, followed by the sound of an explosion. Someone or something screamed. I couldn't turn to see what had happened.
"Got one!" Kuri shouted.
I hoped that we had been lucky enough to get Lexley, but an angry cry pierced the whistling winds.
"Jakson! I'm going to kill you!"
Damn it.
Lexley didn't attack, though. Now that he was by himself, he lingered right behind us where we couldn't target him. The large crate on our wyvern's back blocked our view.
We continued in silence, our injured wyvern lumbering forward, Lexley's gliding leisurely. We were soon close enough to make out the faint outlines of Evercrown's castle on the horizon.
We flew onward, ready to meet our fates.
CHAPTER 36
As we approached the castle, I could make out figures lining the top of its walls, more than usual. I wasn't surprised. They must have seen our fire fight in the sky.
Kuri was back in front, hugging the wyvern's neck.
"Where do we go?" she asked.
I looked backward to check on Lexley. He was tailing us at a good distance, too far away for us to attack.
"The courtyard," I yelled.
We reached the castle and circled. I was worried that the guards might attack us, but either they recognized us, or someone had commanded them to stand down. That is, until Lexley caught up.
"Kill them!" he screamed. "Kill the traitors!"
I spotted archers and crossbowmen raising their weapons, but still no one attacked.
Unsure what to expect, we descended, landing roughly in the middle of the courtyard where a ring of Sentinels and unarmored guards waited.
I leaped to the ground, as did Kuri.
"Warning!" Mira shouted. "Projectile weapons detected!"
It was dark in the courtyard with no torchlights or candles, only the light from the moon and stars. I caught a faint glimpse of a stocky T-shaped weapon in the arms of the approaching men. Crossbows.
"Get behind me," I whispered to Kuri, shielding her with my armor.
Something fast hit me chest and bounced off. Another hit me in the arm and bounced to the ground. A crossbow bolt.
"Stop!" I yelled. "It's me, Jakson! I'm here to see the king!"
I couldn't make out the face of the leading Sentinel in the dim light.
"I know, you idiot," the Sentinel said. He turned to the men at his side, gesturing for them to continue attacking. More crossbows bolts bounced off my armor. The wyvern behind us screamed and thrashed as several of t
he bolts hit it. Another hail of crossbow bolts silenced the creature.
"You fucking asshole!" I screamed.
More armored Sentinels drew their weapons and stepped forward to the side of the crossbowmen. I immediately sent a lightning bolt in the direction of the attackers. It hit one of the crossbowmen, knocking him unconscious to the ground.
Next to me, Kuri conjured a large fireball. She was about to hurl it when someone screamed my name from the other side.
"Jaks! Jaks!"
A figure in the front was frantically waving his hands at me.
No.
It was Tavi.
"Stop, Kuri!" I yelled, but it was too late.
Kuri had released her fireball straight at Tavi. I sent an ice bolt into it from an angle, and the two attacks collided mid-air, turning into a burst of steam.
"Tavi!" I cried.
He was unharmed for now, but he wore an iron collar around his neck, and a chain led from the collar to the hands of the leading Knight Sentinel.
There were eight other Sentinels, and four remaining crossbowmen. The eight Sentinels all carried tall shields, which was rather unusual. I squinted at the Sentinel holding Tavi's chain. It was Erole. One of Lexley's men. He raised his arm, commanding the others to hold their attacks. They stood watching us, about thirty yards away.
"Let him go, Erole," I said.
I raised my left arm slightly as I spoke. "Full power, when I give the command," I whispered.
Erole yanked Tavi viciously backwards, grabbing him with one hand. "I wouldn't do that," he said. "Lower your arm."
Tavi screamed. "The others. The others are dead." He was sobbing now. "Jaks! Help!"
"Hold on, Tavi," I yelled back. "We'll get you out of this."
"Scope mode," I whispered.
Erole's body grew in my vision, along with Tavi's struggling form.
"Jakson!" Erole yelled. "Lower your arm! I'm warning you. I'll kill the boy."
I had one shot. One shot.
I steadied my breathing.
"Jakson!" Erole screamed again. "That's it."
I couldn't get a clear shot with Tavi thrashing about. Come on, Tavi. Tavi!
Erole's armored hand squeezed Tavi's shoulder. Tavi screamed. Even from that distance, I could hear something crack.
Erole said something to his underlings, and the crossbowmen all aimed at Tavi.